April
1-15, 2010
Volume 18 - Number 6
$1
Prolétaires de tous les pays,
unissez-vous!Otatoskewak ota kitaskinahk mamawestotan!
Workers of all lands, unite
Contents
Printer-friendly articles
1) 75,000 MARCH IN COMMON FRONT DEMONSTRATION
2) WINNING THE STRIKE AGAINST VALE INCO
3) CAW CALLS FOR UNITED ACTION TO STOP SIEMENS CLOSURE
4) COMMUNIST PARTY SLAMS SIEMENS PLANT MOVE
5) MOMENTUM BUILDS FOR B.C. ANTI-CUTS CAMPAIGN
6) A SPRINGTIME OF HOPE - Editorial
7) STILL HERE, STILL SCARY - Editorial
8) ANTI-FREE SPEECH CAMPAIGN HITS ROADBLOCKS
9) BLOCK THE MANITOBA PUBLIC SECTOR WAGE FREEZE
10) GLOBAL CAPITALIST POVERTY: FACTS AND FIGURES
11) FORBES: CRISIS HITS ONLY LOW INCOME EARNERS
12) TAR SANDS PROTEST HITS ROYAL BANK
13) DANISH COURT RULES IN "TERRORISM" CASE
14) HUGE PROTESTS AGAINST INDIA PRICE HIKES
15) COLOMBIAN AUTHORITIES MAY TRANSER LILIANY OBANDO
16) WHAT'S LEFT
17) PV FUND DRIVE: $50,000 IN 2010
18) PODCAST OF PEOPLE'S VOICE ARTICLES
19) CLARTÉ (en français)
20) THE SPARK! (Theoretical and Discussion Bulletin of the Communist Party of Canada)
21) INTRODUCING MARX
22) REBEL YOUTH
PEOPLE'S VOICE APRIL 1-15, 2010 (pdf)
WOMEN'S SOCIALIST CALENDAR 2010 (pdf)
Printer-friendly articles
1) 75,000 MARCH IN COMMON FRONT DEMONSTRATION
2) WINNING THE STRIKE AGAINST VALE INCO
3) CAW CALLS FOR UNITED ACTION TO STOP SIEMENS CLOSURE
4) COMMUNIST PARTY SLAMS SIEMENS PLANT MOVE
5) MOMENTUM BUILDS FOR B.C. ANTI-CUTS CAMPAIGN
6) A SPRINGTIME OF HOPE - Editorial
7) STILL HERE, STILL SCARY - Editorial
8) ANTI-FREE SPEECH CAMPAIGN HITS ROADBLOCKS
9) BLOCK THE MANITOBA PUBLIC SECTOR WAGE FREEZE
10) GLOBAL CAPITALIST POVERTY: FACTS AND FIGURES
11) FORBES: CRISIS HITS ONLY LOW INCOME EARNERS
12) TAR SANDS PROTEST HITS ROYAL BANK
13) DANISH COURT RULES IN "TERRORISM" CASE
14) HUGE PROTESTS AGAINST INDIA PRICE HIKES
15) COLOMBIAN AUTHORITIES MAY TRANSER LILIANY OBANDO
16) WHAT'S LEFT
17) PV FUND DRIVE: $50,000 IN 2010
18) PODCAST OF PEOPLE'S VOICE ARTICLES
19) CLARTÉ (en français)
20) THE SPARK! (Theoretical and Discussion Bulletin of the Communist Party of Canada)
21) INTRODUCING MARX
22) REBEL YOUTH
PEOPLE'S VOICE APRIL 1-15, 2010 (pdf)
 |
WOMEN'S SOCIALIST CALENDAR 2010 (pdf)
 |
The Spark! |
| Theoretical and Discussion Bulletin of the Communist Party of Canada |
The Spark!The
latest issue of The Spark! theoretical journal, is now on sale for $5 at Communist Party offices (see p. 8) or People’s Co-op Books, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver.
Articles
include
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| People's
Voice deadlines: APRIL 16-30 Thursday, April 8 MAY 1-15 Thursday, April 22 Send submissions to PV Editorial Office, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, V5L 3J1, pvoice@telus.net |
People's
Voice finds many "Global Class Struggle" reports at the "Labour Start"
website, http://www.labourstart.org. We urge our readers to
check it out!
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(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
PV Montreal Bureau
On March 20, days before the expiry of collective agreements for employees of public and parastatal sectors, an estimated 75,000 members and friends of the Common Front, from all regions of Quebec, marched in the streets of Montreal. The united demonstration by Quebec's three main union federations, SISP, CSN and FTQ (Secrétariat intersyndicale des services publics, Confederation of National Trade Unions, and Quebec Federation of Labour) reminded the Charest government that the solutions to improve public services must involve negotiation.
Comprising 475,000 persons employed in public services, this is the biggest Common Front seen in several decades in Quebec. They include government workers and unionized employees of the health, education and other sectors. With some 300,000 members, including most of the province's teachers, the SISP is the largest component of the Common Front, united in this massive struggle with the CSN and the Quebec Federation of Labour, which includes CUPE affiliates.
Quebec Treasury Board president Monique Gagnon-Tremblay quickly called for a "blitz of negotiations" to reach an agreement by March 31, as desired by the Common Front. The union leaders welcomed this announcement, but said they would "judge the tree by its fruit."
"On other occasions, including last February 19, the President of the Treasury Board announced a period of intensive negotiations," said the Common Front representatives. "We remain cautious and next week we will see the level of government commitment. Trade union members of the Common Front are available to negotiate aggressively, but there will be no global agreement without agreements at the sectoral level." In the Common Front's view, this requires the government to show good faith by withdrawing some of the major irritants that impede progress.
"These negotiations are crucial for the future of public services in health, education for human security and environmental protection. The government must hear the message of the thousands of citizens gathered today to seek concrete solutions to problems encountered in workplaces that have a direct impact on services to the population," said the president of the CSN, Claudette Carbonneau.
"In the past, the public sector was the envy of many other sectors of society, but this is no longer the case today," added Quebec Federation of Labour (FTQ) President Michel Arsenault. "Wage declines year after year and deteriorating working conditions have ensured that the public sector has lost its former glory."
Arsenault points out that "in good years, salaries were frozen at 2% per year," leaving public sector workers falling behind the cost of living. "If we want to keep our services, we must pay the wages that this requires," he says.
For the Common Front, "it is urgent to make a turn to ensure the sustainability of public services to attract and to retain a skilled workforce," said SISP spokesperson Dominique Verreault. "The staff shortage is already being felt in all categories of jobs for several years. It will worsen because of massive departures to retirement, poor working conditions and uncompetitive remuneration. The health, education and public service sectors are less attractive, and many are seduced by private companies that offer better working conditions and higher wages."
According to Claudette Carbonneau, CSN members simply want a good collective agreement. "Our members are tired of living on love and water... They are burnt out... They want respect," she said.
But the Common Front leadership is not optimistic about the government's intentions.
The CSQ, one of the largest affiliates of the SISP, said on March 19 it had "less and less hope" of reaching a settlement by March 31, the expiration date of the current collective agreement, which was unilaterally imposed by the government in December 2005.
"We continue to make the necessary efforts at the negotiating table, but we can never reach an agreement if the employer insists on wanting to cut back on our working conditions, so as to bring us below the conditions under which we are currently covered by decree," CSQ president Réjean Parent said.
The Common Front is demanding wage increases of 2% per year to protect the purchasing power of employees. In addition, it wants an extra "remedial pay" increase of 49 cents per hour on average, or 1.75% of annual earnings, to make wages in the public sector more competitive. This would total 11.25% over a three year agreement.
Like other right-wing governments, the Charest Liberals are using the economic crisis as a club to attack public sector workers. They claim that the Common Front demands would cost an extra $8 billion over three years.
Instead, the government wants to limit pay and benefits to a 7% increase over five years, with the salary raise held to just 5%. This offer could be "enhanced" by 0.75% for each of the last two years if economic growth is higher than expected.
The unions calculate that this "offer" would result in a wage decline of 8% over a five year period. In other words, the public sector workers would be compelled to accept drastically reduced pay and living standards to allow the Charest government get out of its fiscal deficit situation.
(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
By Liz Rowley
The nine-month old strike against Vale Inco by the United Steelworkers Union in Sudbury and Port Colborne, was marked by a 5,000 strong rally organized on March 22 by Local 6500. Supporters came from across Ontario, some travelling as long as eight hours to back the longest nickel mining strike in Sudbury's history.
The "Bridging the Gap" rally was intended to force Vale Inco back to the bargaining table.
Speakers from Vietnam, Australia, Germany, Indonesia, and the US brought greetings. Several spoke about their own strikes against Vale Inco, universally described as a vicious global corporation out to break unions and maximize profits at all costs. Some (like the Australians) brought money; before the rally was finished, over $150,000 had been donated by sister unions from across the globe.
USWA President Leo Gerard described the company's latest diatribe - an attack on the union as racist for refusing to accept an offer in excess of Brazilian miners' wages - as "low", shameful and a lie.
The proof was solidarity. Union of Ontario Indians Grand Chief Pat Madahbee told the rally that the UOI had passed a resolution supporting the strikers last fall, and would continue to support the strike until victory. "We're with you! We're with you!", he said to a standing ovation.
The UOI is expected to organize blockades on the highways in and around Sudbury to stop trucks transporting "hot cargo" if the strike is not settled.
OFL President Sid Ryan pledged the support of Ontario's one million union members. "This strike is everybody's business!" he said, pointing out the breadth and depth of the corporate assault against workers and the need for a united response.
In reply to Vale Inco's campaign of disinformation, USW President Leo Gerard invited the company to "Come to Sudbury tomorrow. We're ready to negotiate!"
Gerard and others called on Ottawa to review the Canada Investment Act, which allowed the Brazilian multinational to buy INCO three years ago. A secret codicil agreement signed by Vale was supposed to guarantee continued investment in Canada, along with current job levels. Vale has been accused of planning to reduce the work force from over 3,000 to 1,800 or less. The union is demanding the federal government rescind the agreement and the sale.
Strikers were invited to "stand up and look under your chair" for Sudbury Liberal MPP Rick Bartolucci, conspicuous by his absence. Bartolucci's genuflection to the company and solemn recitations of "neutrality" have garnered universal contempt. His days as an MPP will be over in next year's election.
NDP leader Jack Layton and Ontario leader Andrea Horwath also spoke, supporting strikers and calling for federal and provincial anti-scab legislation.
The workers are more united today than nine months ago, as seen in the 89% NO vote in Sudbury and 98% NO vote in Port Colborne on March 12, when the company forced a ballot on their "last offer" of concessions on pensions, the nickel bonus, and seniority.
Vale Inco thought strikers had been softened up or broken by the harsh winter, the loss of income (and even the loss of homes), and the use of scabs. The company was dead wrong.
Strikers have dug in for the long haul, and young workers have matured into picket line leaders. Like the process of mining itself, the heat and pressure generated by this strike has produced a new generation of union activists, committed to hold out "as long as it takes" to win.
So far, the strike has cost Vale Inco an estimated $1.8 billion and counting. This doesn't include the loss of an estimated $4 billion in annual profits that the company made in previous years. Put them together and the real figure is close to $6 billion.
But this is a company with deep pockets and operations all over the world. Sudbury represents 3% of its global holdings, enabling Vale to utilize other sites to fill orders for nickel and precious metals. Nickel prices are rising, and could generate a tidy profit if Canadian nickel were mined, refined and sold today.
Vale Inco's primary goal is to break the union, setting the pattern for union busting in the mining sector in Canada and internationally. That's why Vale has antagonized entire communities by bringing in scabs. It's part of a psychological assault, intended to provoke violence on picket lines.
Vale has fired ten union militants for "picket line violence', sued 25 strikers, and taken others to court, where the charges have usually thrown out. Violence is what they are trying very hard to get. Police dogs were at the ready on March 22, and about 200 cops were in reserve across the adjacent rail lines. So far the police have been careful, according to union members, and dogs have not been used.
But the scabs are working, producing precious metals which fetch a high price. They are housed in Vale Inco offices on the mine and smelter sites, (a fact the city ignores, though it breaks several by-laws), and flown in and out weekly by helicopter, also a breach of the picket line agreements set by the courts. The scabs are paid very well for their labour, including large allowances for their week "inside".
This work is extremely dangerous, and none of them are trained to do it, short of reading a manual and following directions from management/foremen on the job. At least two of the furnaces have been wrecked, according to strikers.
The whole labour movement has an interest in the outcome of this strike. It will set the pattern in negotiations throughout the mining industry in Canada, and it will link up with other corporate assaults on Canadian workers.
Regrettably, CLC President Ken Georgetti did not attend the rally. The CLC, of all organizations, should know that its role is crucial. It seems the miners and smelterworkers in Sudbury are willing to fight "one day longer" than Vale Inco. Is the CLC ready to lead that fight across Canada? The answer needs to be an resounding Yes.
(Rowley is the Ontario leader of the Communist Party.)
(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
PV Ontario Bureau
Hamilton - In early March, Siemens announced it will close its 100 year old operations in Hamilton. Effective July 2011, the company will move its gas turbine plant to North Carolina, where it will expand its low-wage, non-union operations at the expense of 550 Canadian jobs.
It was a shocking announcement, since management recently boasted that the plant was extremely productive and efficient. The company cited Ontario's shift away from fossil fuels for the move.
But the real reason is the non-unionized work force, poor labour laws and working conditions in the US Sunbelt states, and the low corporate taxes and tax concessions offered Siemens by the city of Charlotte and the state of North Carolina.
Siemens, a German multi-national, took over the Westinghouse operations less than 10 years ago. Now, it has decided that bigger profits can be made in the US South, not in Canada where manufacturing is still largely unionized.
At a rally organized immediately after the closure announcement, a visibly angry CAW President Ken Lewenza blasted this latest plant closure and the governments that allow it.
"This isn't a company that's losing money. It's a company that in their opinion isn't making enough. But we have to ask ourselves, our governments and our MPs, "What kind of country do we want? It's not the country of continual job loss, manufacturing decline. We have a responsibility. Others have done it before us. We're going to fight and we're going to win."
Lewenza said the fight isn't only about Siemens, "it's about all the closures". Speaking about the almost half a million manufacturing jobs that have disappeared in Ontario in the last five years, and the stripping of the Canadian economy and the misery of joblessness that has followed, Lewenza said "enough is enough".
"We're thinking about the next generation. Who's going to pay the taxes, who's going to pay for our public health care, who's going to pay for our infrastructure? Who's going to pay for education? Who's going to save jobs? Who's going to protect the interests of Canada, the interests of Canadian workers?"
He said the labour movement has to think about how to fight back, and called for a broad coalition of labour and its allies to mount an effective political and economic struggle to stop the closures and layoffs.
"These rallies work. You know just walking down the street and begging - that never worked. At the end of the day, if we have to take over workplaces to fight for justice and fight for community, we're prepared to do that.
"We have to fight in a more militant fashion. We can march till the cows come home. But until we deal with capital moving from one city to another city, from one country to another country, moving workers from one side of the globe to the other end of the globe, we will always be under constant pressure from these global industries who think they have no responsibility from the communities that made them these incredible profits," he said.
Representatives from a number of unions were present, all of which are under attack by greedy corporations and reactionary governments.
The new CAW President has been making a series of speeches in Ontario about the need for a united fightback by labour and its allies. Newly elected OFL President Sid Ryan has made similar speeches. The CAW's re-entry into the OFL, after an absence of almost a decade, is expected shortly. Progressives are hopeful the move to re-unite labour in Ontario will bear quick results.
(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
The Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) and the Hamilton Committee of the Party reacted quickly to the Siemens closure announcement, issuing a news release and a leaflet condemning the move and calling for new policies to defend the interests of workers.
It's true that U.S. sunbelt politicians don't care enough about the environment to rein in the corporations, points out the statement. But the real motive is North Carolina's pathetic labour laws: "Siemens' workers have no union, no collective agreement, no bargaining rights, no right to strike, and are paid wages far lower than any worker in the Hamilton operations. Benefits? What are those?"
The statement points out that the 550 families affected by the closure will join half a million others who have lost well-paid, unionized jobs in Ontario. After using their severance and their EI weeks to search for comparable jobs in an economy with 12.1% real unemployment, most will have to choose between lower-paid, precarious work, or welfare.
Federal and provincial governments have said nothing about the shutdown. "For Liberal and Tory governments, multinational corporations can do whatever they want. Concessions and sweeteners like the tax gifts and freebies in North Carolina are the only thing on offer in Ontario."
The Communist Party is demanding legislation that would force companies like Siemens to show "just cause" before a public tribunal, and prevent closures based on reducing workers' wages and union-busting. The Party also calls for an immediate end to the free trade deals, and an industrial strategy to create jobs and re-build Canadian industry and manufacturing on a sustainable basis.
The Party's statement urges "plant closure legislation with teeth - stop corporations putting plants on skids south to cut wages and break unions," and goes on to demand:
"* foreign investment laws that benefit Canada - not Siemens, US Steel, Vale Inco, and the rest.
* bankruptcy protection for workers' wages and pensions.
* massive public investment to create jobs, expand manufacturing and secondary industry.
* raise wages and living standards, put Ontario back to work
* anti-scab legislation.
* a Bill of Rights for Labour guaranteeing the right to strike, picket and organize.
"Corporations and their right wing governments say the economic crisis is over. But it's not over for workers who continue to face massive unemployment, job loss, static wages, and declining living conditions. Now the attack is on the trade union movement itself, which corporations and reactionary governments know is the backbone of a province-wide, and Canada-wide fightback movement."
In response, "Labour needs its democratic and community allies now more than ever, and communities need labour to beat back the corporate attack on cities, social programs, and public services.
"The OFL needs to convene a labour-community summit that can organize and mobilize a mass, united and militant response, that can put people in the streets and launch a counter-offensive against the corporate assault.
"We stand in solidarity with fighting members of Local 504, CAW, which has a long history of militant struggle from the early days of organizing in the 1930s and 40s up to the present. The struggle continues!"
(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
By Kimball Cariou, Vancouver
As the full picture of the Campbell government's crippling cuts to social programs, health and education comes into focus, momentum is building for a powerful fightback campaign. Drawing together trade unions and a wide range of Aboriginal, student, women's and social justice movements, the Coalition to Build A Better BC will hold its first major rally on Saturday, April 10, 12 noon at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Leaders and members of dozens of affiliated groups gathered on March 20 in Vancouver for a one-day conference to discuss the deepening crisis, which affects virtually every section of working people.
Formed just a few weeks ago, the coalition already includes (listed alphabetically) the Alliance for Arts and Culture, BC Association of Social Workers, BC Government and Service Employees' Union, BC Federation of Labour, BC Federation of Retired Union Members, BC Health Coalition, BC Persons with AIDS Society, BC Retired Teachers Association, BC Teachers Federation, BC/Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors, Canadian Federation of Students, Check Your Head, Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC, Council of Canadians, Council of Senior Citizens Organizations, CUPE BC, Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC, First Call, Health Sciences Association of BC, Hospital Employees Union, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (Northwest District 250), Positive Women's Network, Positive Living Fraser Valley, Seniors on Guard for Medicare, Sierra Club of BC, South Fraser Community Services Society, Union of BC Indian Chiefs, Vancouver Rape Relief, and the Wilderness Committee.
In its initial statement, the Coalition calls for "building communities where every woman, man and child is treated with fairness and dignity, and respect is a shared responsibility...
"Public, community and cultural services are essential cornerstones of a civil society. They are a critical component of our economic well-being, especially in difficult economic times. A strong public sector to support, build and regulate the private sector is vital to the social, environmental and economic health of the province.
"Due to drastic funding cuts, chronic underfunding and misaligned political priorities many of these services are at risk of disappearing, and putting our way of life and the environment at risk. Many of the cuts affect the most vulnerable people in our communities, particularly women, children, isolated seniors, and those with the lowest incomes. It is unacceptable for government to take more from those who have the least, in order to give more to those who have the most."
Despite their "no tax increase" rhetoric, the Liberals are jacking up fees and taxes on working people. The "Harmonized Sales Tax" will start gouging consumers and small businesses on July 1. Another Vancouver regional transit fare hike takes effect on April 1, bringing fares a mind-boggling 66% higher than before the Liberals took office. BC Hydro rates will go up 9.11 percent this year, and by similar amounts over the next three years.
Young people have been the target of Liberal policies, such as the lowest minimum wage in Canada. Students have seen a 28% hit to StudentAid BC, and government revenue from tuition fees will exceed corporate income tax by $200 million this year.
The latest controversial decision comes from the Ministry of Housing and Social Development, in the form of new cuts to health and medical services for people receiving disability benefits and income assistance.
A wide range of medical equipment and supplies will no longer be funded, including diagnostic testing devices such as glucose meters, contraceptive devices, and pre-made orthotics. Other changes will reduce the frequency of equipment repairs or replacement, and limit spending for necessary items such as motorized wheelchairs.
Recipients who need bottled water for health reasons will now have to pay themselves, since the $20 monthly payments for this purpose will be eliminated on May 31. Dental cleaning, examinations and fluoride treatments will be reduced to once a year from the current twice annually.
Until now, the government has provided a minimum shelter allowance of $75 to people between 59 and 65, even if they were homeless or not paying rent. That funding is being eliminated, so that people on the basic disability income of $531 a month, plus the $75 shelter allowance, will lose 12% of their income.
As Victoria Times Colonist writer Paul Willcocks said, "The income assistance and disability benefit cuts are cruel, wasteful and petty. Instead, the public affairs bureau - the government's $26-million-a-year communications arm - put out a news release headlined `Province protects services for low-income clients.' In fact, it was cutting services for those people ... who are already dirt poor."
The accumulated impact of education spending shortfalls has also reached crisis levels. Despite Campbell's election promise to "make B.C. the best-educated, most literate place in North America", his government's refusal to cover rising costs means that public school boards across the province face a total shortfall of up to $300 million.
Under huge pressure, the province has restored some funds cut last year, such as the annual facilities grant needed by boards for maintenance of schools. But the Vancouver School Board, for example, is still looking at a $17 million shortfall for the 2010-11 academic year, a gap which will inevitably force big layoffs, program cuts and school closures.
As pointed out by Vancouver Parents for Successful Inclusion, the impact could be worst for students with special needs. While the government's Bill 33 set class size and composition limits for regular classes, the legislation excludes core educational services for students with special needs. The group fears that "Local Boards facing unprecedented budget pressures and left with no other options will be forced to concentrate budget cuts on special education programs and non-enrolling supports for at-risk students to achieve the required savings."
In total, the Campbell government's latest round of layoffs, cuts, fee increases and new taxes spell the biggest attack on the working class of British Columbia since the Liberals took office. It will take a huge fightback to defeat this corporate-inspired agenda; the April 10 rally will be a critical test of strength for the labour movement and its community allies.
(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
People's Voice Editorial
Radicals who want to create a better world often swing between bleak cynicism and blind faith. Hardened by past betrayals and retreats, we can succumb to the idea that nothing short of total revolution will achieve real gains. Or we can view any progress as a signal that the path to social change will now be straight and easy. For example, when we see the heroic struggles of the Greek workers against an outrageous attempt to make them shoulder the entire burden of capitalist crisis, one reaction is to shrug, "OK, but Canadian workers would never take such militant action." Another is to assume that a similar massive fightback is just around the corner in this country.
What's the truth? The Greek working class is certainly displaying a high level of revolutionary understanding. But there are also positive developments in Canada. The outstanding rally in Montreal on March 20 drew far more than the 50,000 public sector workers predicted by the Quebec Common Front unions. Given a clear goal and committed leadership, other workers in Canada will also flex their muscles. The labour-led Coalition to Build a Better B.C. has the possibility to strengthen links with the anti-HST campaign in that province, and to shake up the deeply unpopular Campbell Liberals. After a decade of lethargy imposed by former opportunist leaders, the Ontario Federation of Labour is moving into action around the economic crisis, and trying to overcoming divisions which hindered a successful fightback.
This is not a moment to stand back and hurl insults at the shortcomings of these struggles. That doesn't mean there is no place for constructive criticism. It does mean that the main emphasis must be on all-out efforts to nurture these valuable shoots of resistance. The task of left activists in the labour and people's movements today is to help build truly broad, united, mass movements against the corporations and their right-wing governments. Not every springtime of hope brings a summer of victories, but this important opportunity must be grasped.
(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
People's Voice Editorial
Here's the good news. After four years in office, Stephen Harper's Tories are still a minority in Parliament. Despite all the advantages of power, and the open support of the ruling class and the corporate media, Harper's polling numbers are lower today than during the past two elections. In part, this reflects the Tory capacity to remind working people of their vicious, reactionary politics. Whether it's their brutal imperialist war in Afghanistan, their utter indifference to mass layoffs, or their hatred for women's reproductive rights, the Tories regularly shoot themselves in both feet.
Even the sleazy attempt to paint themselves as "populists" has backfired, thanks to all those temper tantrums. It's hard to hold a pose with your Timmy's double-double when the Veteran's Affairs Minister is screaming at security guards for refusing to let him take his expensive bottle of tequila onto the plane.
Now the bad news. Stephen Harper is still in office, and still within spitting distance of a majority. Some argue that this hardly matters. Our response? Harper already runs the country like his personal banana republic. Wait until he has even less obstacles to slow the corporate attack and the fundamentalist agenda of his MPs.
Consider the tussle over documents on the Afghan detainee torture issue. Even now, the Conservatives are playing the "national security" card to deny any access to these materials. Imagine the degree of control a Harper majority regime would exercise over any embarrassing revelations or criticism.
Time is running out - an election is more likely by the month. It would be a terrible mistake to assume that the Tories will make enough blunders to lose. The outcome of the next election may shift the political terrain for years - defeating Harper remains urgent.
(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
PV Vancouver Bureau
The campaign to shut down any criticism of the state of Israel ran into a couple of speed bumps in early March.
In one development, the Bloc Quebecois has decided to resign from the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA). MP Luc Desnoyers, one of two Bloc members formerly on the CPCCA Steering Committee, confirmed that the decision reflected the Bloc's unease in the face of "the inequality of opinions presented before the Coalition," and "the refusal of the Steering Committee to hear groups with opposing viewpoints."
The Bloc formally requested last November that Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) and the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) be heard by the Coalition, to diversify the almost exclusively pro-Israel viewpoints presented to the CPCCA. This and other requests went unaddressed by the Steering Committee, led by Conservative Scott Reid. Neither CJPME nor CAF was invited to participate.
"CJPME is absolutely opposed to anti-Semitism," declared Thomas Woodley, President of CJPME. "Nevertheless, if an objective perspective is truly desired, the CPCCA hearings must welcome diverse, and potentially opposing viewpoints."
The CPCCA is an ad hoc coalition which until now has included MPs from the four parties in Parliament. The CJPME has argued that the Coalition's position - that any criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic - violates Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In a related development, two attempts on March 11 to get the House of Commons to condemn "Israeli Apartheid Week" failed to receive the necessary unanimous approval of MPs in a voice vote.
The first motion, introduced by Tim Uppal, the Conservative MP for Edmonton-Sherwood Park, stated: "That this House condemns Israeli Apartheid Week for seeking to delegitimize the State of Israel by equating it with the racist South African apartheid regime, and that this House continues to support a peaceful resolution through a negotiated two-state solution that respects Israel's right to exist."
A slightly different resolution was then introduced by Bloc Quebecois MP Claude DeBellefeuille (Beauharnois-Salaberry): "That this House denounce the use of the word apartheid to describe the Israeli policy on Palestinians and the word anti-Semitic to describe any criticism against Israel, and that this House reaffirm its support for Israel's right to live in peace and security within sound, established borders, and reaffirm its support for the right of the Palestinian people to have its own state within sound borders and to live there in peace and security."
The second motion also lacked unanimous support. In both cases, an unspecified number of NDP members voted "no."
The defeat of Uppal's motion was welcomed by Independent Jewish Voices (IJV), a cross-Canada network of Jewish human-rights activists.
"This shows courage to stand up to the Orwellian attempts by Israel's supporters to bully Israel's critics into silence," said IJV spokesperson Sid Shniad. "`Apartheid', the term Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and former prime minister Olmert used to describe the occupation's effects, shouldn't be controversial. Whether or not you agree with the term `apartheid', all Canadians should defend free speech and oppose limiting debate, especially considering these terms are part of the Israel mainstream debate."
IJV also commended Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath for calling a similar provincial motion by MPP Peter Shurman "divisive by nature". The group urged the Ontario legislature to reject such motions in the future.
Meanwhile, the Canada-Israel Committee, a vocal pro-Israel lobby group, expressed "deep appreciation" for the Uppal motion.
"The use of the term apartheid to describe Israel is scurrilous and completely false and serves to intimidate and ostracize Jewish students on campus," claimed the CIC. "The attempt to compare Israel, a democracy that provides full rights to its Arab minority population, is part of a larger concerted campaign to delegitimize the State of Israel."
Moshe Ronen, CIC National Chair, condemned NDP House Leader Libby Davies (Vancouver East) "for not only scuttling any good faith attempt to reach all-party consensus on the issue, but publicly taking credit for it."
Ronen attacked what he called Davies' "utter disregard for the plight of students who are bullied and intimidated on campus..."
Davies has responded that "the Conservative motion was designed to be divisive and to censure legitimate debate on the issue of Israel's policies as well as to specifically target activists who are engaged in debate and other activities on various campuses across the country. I didn't support either motion, and whatever one thinks about the term `apartheid' in reference to Israel, I don't believe that Members of Parliament should have any role or influence in stifling open discussion and education on this issue. As someone who has visited the West Bank and Gaza twice (most recently in August of 2009), I know first-hand the impact and destruction caused by Israeli policies towards Palestinians."
(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
Statement of the Manitoba Committee, Communist Party of Canada, March 23, 2010
After handing out hundreds of millions of dollars to corporations by cutting their taxes, the Manitoba NDP government is attacking public sector workers with a wage freeze. If any group should pay for the expected provincial budget deficit, it is the corporations which have benefited from many years of NDP tax cuts.
An injury to one is an injury to all. The Manitoba NDP must back down, not the workers. The Labour movement must resist this attack or face more serious attacks later on.
The number one rule of a working class party - if the NDP can still call itself one - ought to be never attack your base, the workers. This is more than a monumental mistake by the Manitoba NDP government; it is an injury to workers that will be remembered for many years.
We need to remember the harm and sense of betrayal experienced by workers when past NDP governments imposed wage cuts and freezes, including when the Ontario NDP created the infamous Rae Days and broke public sector collective agreements in the 1990s.
Unsurprisingly, the Manitoba NDP's fortunes are falling in the public opinion polls. The Manitoba NDP is bowing down to the wealthy, the banks and the corporations, attacking the workers while helping the capitalists.
According to many statistical surveys, wages for working class families have essentially been frozen for nearly three decades, while the handful of people who own the large corporations have seen their incomes skyrocket.
The plan to freeze wages just adds insult to injury.
The plan is dangerous because it divides workers along public and private sector lines. Many public sector workers do not earn high wages, yet the Manitoba NDP is trying to sell the idea that these workers can afford frozen wages more than workers in the private sectors.
Why does the plan exclude teachers and professors from the wage freeze? The Manitoba NDP is imposing the wage freeze on home, health care and other low income workers. But it is only cautioning school boards and other agencies to stop giving increases to teachers and professionals.
By attacking wages instead of bloated corporate profits, the Manitoba NDP is sending a clear signal to all employers that it is acceptable to freeze all workers wages.
The Labour movement must stand up to the bullying and resist this attack. In the Fall of 2008, the Harper government raised an idea similar to a wage freeze by proposing to ban the right to strike in the public sector.
The Harper government was almost toppled because of the massive protests outside Parliament led by the Labour movement. There should be the same outrage in the Labour movement and by all workers in Manitoba, in the public and private sector, in small and large shops, by workers in unions and who are not organized.
(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
By Kimball Cariou
We are often told that "a rising tide lifts all boats" - in other words, increasing totals of global wealth raise everyone out of poverty. Yet while the number of ultra-rich is growing, billions of people remain trapped in dire poverty. The reality is that under capitalism, wealth is concentrated in fewer hands while misery increases, unless this process is countered by working people to win basic reforms and revolutionary change.
One useful collection of data on global economic disparities is a website operated by Anup Shah. The "Poverty Stats and Facts" section of this website is found at http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats. Here are some excerpts.
Almost half the world - over three billion people - live on less than $2.50 a day. At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day.
More than 80 percent of the world's population lives in countries where income differentials are widening. The poorest 40 percent of the world's population accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income.
According to UNICEF, 25,000 children die each day due to poverty. Around 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted. The two regions that account for the bulk of the nutrition deficit are South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
If current trends continue, the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDG) target of halving the proportion of underweight children will be missed by 30 million children.
Based on enrolment data, about 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005; 57 per cent of them were girls. Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
Infectious diseases continue to blight the lives of the poor. An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, with 3 million deaths in 2004. Every year there are 350-500 million cases of malaria, with 1 million fatalities: Africa accounts for 90 percent of malarial deaths and African children account for over 80 percent of malaria victims worldwide.
Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation. More than 660 million people without sanitation live on less than $2 a day, and more than 385 million on less than $1 a day.
Access to piped water into the household averages about 85% for the wealthiest 20% of the population, compared with 25% for the poorest 20%.
1.8 billion people who have access to a water source within one kilometre, but not in their house or yard, consume around 20 litres per day. In the United Kingdom the average person uses more than 150 liters a day. The highest average water use in the world is in the US, at 600 liters per day.
Some 1.8 million children die each year as a result of diarrhoea, and 443 million school days are lost annually from water-related illness. Close to half of all people in developing countries suffer from health problems caused by water and sanitation deficits. Millions of women spend several hours a day collecting water.
The costs associated with health spending, productivity losses and labour diversions, are greatest in some of the poorest countries. Sub-Saharan Africa loses about 5% of GDP, or some $28.4 billion annually, a figure that exceeds total aid flows and debt relief to the region in 2003.
Of the 2.2 billion children in the world, 1 billion live in poverty. Among the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, 640 million are without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, and 270 million lack access to health services.
Worldwide, 1.4 million children die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. Another 2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized, and 15 million children are orphaned due to HIV/AIDS.
Rural areas account for three in every four people living on less than US$1 a day and a similar share of the world population suffering from malnutrition. However, urbanization is not synonymous with progress. In 2005, one out of three urban dwellers (approximately 1 billion people) was living in slum conditions.
In developing countries some 2.5 billion people are forced to rely on biomass - fuelwood, charcoal and animal dung - to meet their energy needs for cooking. In sub-Saharan Africa, over 80 percent of the population depends on traditional biomass for cooking, as do over half of the populations of India and China.
Indoor air pollution resulting from the use of solid fuels claims the lives of 4000 people a day, or 1.5 million people each year, more than half of them below the age of five.
In 2005, the wealthiest 20% of the world accounted for 76.6% of total private consumption, compared to just 1.5% for the poorest fifth. The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of 41 heavily indebted poor countries (567 million people) was less than the wealth of the world's seven richest people combined in that year.
The total wealth of the top 8.3 million people around the world rose 8.2 percent to $30.8 trillion in 2004, giving them control of nearly a quarter of the world's financial assets. In other words, about 0.13% of the world's population controlled 25% of the world's financial assets in 2004.
In 1960, the 20% of the world's people in the richest countries had 30 times the income of the poorest 20%. By 1997, the differential was 74 times as much.
In 2008, the World Bank announced a new global poverty line of $1.25 a day. It also reported that while there has been some reduction in world poverty over the last couple of decades, this gain almost exclusively comes from China, where the poverty rate fell from 85% to 15.9%, or by over 600 million people.
Anup Shah's website lists various categories of spending in the developed countries, ranging from cosmetics in the United States ($8 billion annually) to the yearly total of worldwide military budgets ($780 billion, actually nearly $1 trillion by 2010).
Shah and others have compared military expenditures to the cost of achieving universal literacy and health care, access to clean water, and other urgent development priorities. But their figures are often out-dated.
A current comparison would consider the costs of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations in 2000, as a first step towards eliminating extreme poverty by the year 2015.
Target 10 of the MDGs is to "halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation". The United Nations estimated that the spending on new infrastructure in developing countries to meet this target is $42 billion for water and $142 billion for sanitation, for an annual total over ten years of $18 billion. To maintain these services would require annual spending of $54 billion.
In other words, the world spends 14 times more each year on military budgets than it would cost to provide water and sanitation for half of those who lack these necessities.
US economist Jeffrey Sachs, who headed the UN Millennium Project, argues that to reach these goals, development aid must be raised from $65 billion globally as of 2002 to between $135 and $195 billion a year by 2015. This could be achieved by redirecting less than 20% of global military spending.
Clearly, the human race does have the wealth and resources to tackle the global poverty crisis, along with the looming catastrophe of unhecked greenhouse gas emissions which are creating chaotic climate change. The barrier to real progress is the economic and social system which dominates most of the planet. The capitalist system of private ownership ensures that a tiny handful of wealthy billionaires reap enormous benefits from their control of resources, including the huge profits sucked out of the military-industrial complex which helps to maintain the power of the leading imperialist countries.
(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
By Vlad Grinkevich, RIA Novosti
The current global financial and economic crisis confirms the fact that during economic upheavals the rich get richer and the poor become even more destitute. On March 10, Forbes Magazine carried an updated list of the world's wealthiest people.
As of late 2009, the number of billionaires soared from 793 to 1,011 and their total fortunes from $2.4 trillion to $3.6 trillion (all amounts in US dollars).
The list's authors believe that an increase in the number of wealthy people highlights the end of the recession, but it may also signal the appearance of new bubbles in the economy.
Mexican telecommunications king Carlos Slim Helu opens the list with $53.5 billion. He is followed by last year's leader, Microsoft founder Bill Gates with $53 billion and American investor, businessman, and philanthropist Warren Buffet with $47 billion.
However, this does not mean that Gates and Buffet now have less money than before. On the contrary, they have both increased their fortunes by $13 billion and $10 billion, respectively.
There have also been some tactical changes in the list of Russian billionaires. For instance, ONEXIM Group CEO Mikhail Prokhorov, who has expanded his fortune from $9.5 billion to $13.4 billion in one year, has ceded first place to Vladimir Lisin with $15.8 billion. Lisin, who is Chairman of the Board of Directors at Novolipetsk Steel, came fifth in the rating only 12 months ago.
Despite the crisis, the list of billionaires has grown by 200 people and their aggregate capital has expanded by 50 percent. This may seem paradoxical but only at first glance. This result was predictable, if we recall how governments all over the world have dealt with the economic crisis.
Anti-crisis measures essentially implied massive infusion of money into the economy. The United States alone spent over $10 trillion. Against the backdrop of a global recession, the funding could only be put to good use on stock and raw materials markets, leading to the creation of new financial bubbles.
Consequently, oil prices which had hit an all-time low of $47 per barrel in December 2008, now stand at about $80. Global financial indices are also climbing steadily. The Russian stock market grew by over 100 percent over the course of 2009.
The lists of billionaires and their countries of residence have changed. China, which posted a 8.7 percent GDP growth last year despite the crisis, is now home to 64, rather than 62, billionaires, ousting Russia to third place. Although Russia has suffered a harsher blow from the crisis than most industrial and even developing countries, it now has 62 billionaires, up from 32 in 2008, regardless of the fact that the national GDP has plunged by 7.9 percent by late 2009.
(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
Source: Rainforest Action Network
On March 3, more than 170 people rallied outside the Royal Bank of Canada's annual meeting in Toronto to demand that RBC phase out its financing of tar sands projects and recognize the right to free, prior and informed consent for Indigenous communities. Solidarity actions were held in other cities, including London, Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Victoria.
Since 2007 RBC has backed more than $16.7 billion (USD) in loans to companies operating in the Alberta tar sands - more than any other bank. Tar sands projects will eventually transform a boreal forest the size of England into an industrial sacrifice zone complete with lakes full of toxic waste, spewing out emissions.
Four aboriginal groups want Royal Bank to use its influence to stop Enbridge Inc. from building a 1170-kilometer pipeline to carry oil from the tar sands through northern British Columbia to Kitimat, where it would be loaded on tankers for shipment to the U.S. west coast or Asia.
The Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline is the largest crude-oil pipeline expansion in North America, crossing mountainous terrain, hundreds of rivers and streams, and roughly 35 kilometers of key salmon spawning waters. Enbridge is in the final steps of preparing its environmental application, which will be submitted to the federal National Energy Board.
First Nations community representatives were joined members of Rainforest Action Network, Indigenous Environmental Network, No One Is Illegal, and Council of Canadians, making their outrage at RBC's investments heard. To the thumping beats of a samba band, the crowd shouted "Cultural Genocide: who do we thank? Dirty investments from Royal Bank!"
Inside the shareholder meeting, Chief Al Lameman of Beaver Lake First Nation (Alberta), Vice Chief Terry Teegee of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council of BC, Hereditary Chief Warner Naziel of the Wet'suwe'ten First Nation of BC, and Gitz Crazyboy of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation addressed RBC CEO Gordon Nixon directly about the way tar sands extraction projects have jeopardized their health and their rights.
Downstream communities have experienced polluted water, water reductions in rivers and aquifers, declines in wildlife populations such as moose and muskrat, and significant declines in fish populations. Tar sands development has all but destroyed the traditional livelihood of First Nations in the northern Athabasca watershed.
Clearly feeling the public pressure, RBC spent half of the shareholder meeting addressing the issue. Recently, the bank convened a meeting with more than a dozen international banks for a "day of learning" about the reputational risks associated with the tar sands. In addition, according to information the bank provided to Rainforest Action Network during a February meeting in San Francisco, RBC is evaluating new lending criteria that would apply to the oil and gas sector, in particular to the tar sands. However, the bank has been reticent to include "Free, Prior and Informed Consent" in its policy, which would ensure that First Nations communities are respected in lending practices.
(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
The global imperialist campaign to smear liberation movements with the "terrorist" label has taken another twist in the case of charges against Patrick Mac Manus, an Irish-born member of Denmark's "Rebellion" group. In Copenhagen City Court on March 15, Mac Manus was found guilty of "attempting to collect funds" for two so-called "terrorist organizations" - the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) - and for "encouraging" others to do the same.
Judge Helle Hastrup, however, rendered a mild sentence of six months probation as opposed to 18 months imprisonment asked for by the prosecutor. Court costs of 110,000 Danish kroner (about $20,000) plus 25% tax are to be shared by the defendant and the state. Hastrup could have demanded that all court costs be paid by the defendant.
The ruling that FARC and PFLP are terrorist organizations was based exclusively on a previous decision by Denmark's Supreme Court. In a similar case, seven members of a group called Fighters & Lovers had sold t-shirts with FARC and PFLP logos, with the objective of sending part of the proceeds to media projects on their behalf. The Danish political police confiscated the funds and arrested the activists for "supporting terrorism."
In 2007, Copenhagen City Court found them innocent because it determined that the liberation fighters in Colombia and Palestine were not terrorists. But in 2008, a higher court reversed this decision, and sentenced the activists to jail terms of two to six months. On March 25, 2009, the Supreme Court confirmed the judgment but found Denmark's terrorist law 114 to be "unclear" and reduced the sentence to probation.
Although Rebellion has several spokespersons, the police only charged 65-year-old Mac Manus. The City Court found him to be the key person, although it admitted that the prosecution had not proven that any funds were actually transferred to "terrorist organizations". The judgment was based on a claim on Rebellion's website that it had collected and sent funds, and on emails on Mac Manus' computer confiscated by the police. Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen rested his case on Mac Manus' admission that he had donated $4 (20 kroner) at a Rebellion party in August 2004. The prosecutor also read excerpts from wiretapped phone conversations and from the confiscated emails, indicating that Mac Manus was a spokesperson and that he wrote press releases and articles favouring struggles for liberation in Israel and Colombia.
Defense attorney Thorkild Hoeyer argued that the state had no hard evidence of crimes committed by Mac Manus; that the state had no evidence that FARC and PFLP are "terrorist organizations" as defined by international law; that any appeals to collect funds for said organizations were directed in favour of liberation from terror; and that the defendant acted and spoke in satire, challenging the anti-terror law to a public debate, a la Jonathan Swift.
Judge Hastrup disregarded the argument of satire and held with the Supreme Court's 2009 ruling, regardless of terrorism or other international crimes Israeli and Colombia governments might commit, this is irrelevant to Danish anti-terror laws. If non-government liberation organizations commit acts which result in the death of civilians, then the groups are terrorists by definition of Danish laws from 2002. This places Denmark above United Nations conventions, which judge armed struggles in the context of actual conditions.
Amidst a flurry of flapping union and WW2 resistance fighters' banners, and shouts from scores of supporters outside the court, Mac Manus responded to the court decision.
"This won't stop me or us. We will continue to seek an end to these terror laws, to their terror wars. Our struggle is worth it regardless of court judgments. We act in the long history of solidarity, supporting those who fight for liberation and self-determination."
(With files from Ron Ridenour, "Dissident Voice")
(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
By Malkeet Singh
Hundreds of thousands of Left activists hit New Delhi's roads on March 12, protesting the rising prices of essential commodities and the anti-people policies of India's NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government. They were even joined by sympathisers from centre and right-wing parties.
The call for the March 12 rally was given by four Left parties: Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Revolutionary Socialist Party and Forward Block.
The Left Front parties also raised the issue of rising prices in the Parliament. When not allowed by the Speaker, they walked out in protest, supported by the Socialist Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party (of Mayawati), Biju Janta Dal, and even the BJP.
The base camp for the rally was at Ramlila Maidan grounds, and the main stage was at Jantar Mantar, at a distance of about 3 kilometers. People from the furthest states in the south and east camped near the stage overnight.
The protest march started at 9 am. Files of 30 to 40 demonstrators in a row were still moving from the base camp into the evening. For the first time, women took part in very large numbers, especially from the "cow belt states" of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Muslims were also seen in very large numbers, and even a few Sadhus (godmen) from Haridwar in Uttarakhand.
The Left parties vowed to take their fight to a logical conclusion, announcing nation wide street actions on April 8 during which they will dare the central government to arrest their cadres. The parties plan to mobilize some 2.5 million people to take part in these civil disobedience protests.
(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
By Kevin Neish
When Colombian union leader Liliany Obando was a young child in Pasto, she once came upon a policeman rousting a peasant women selling fruit, off the sidewalk. Liliany ran into the street to collect and return the women's fruit, which the policeman simply threw back out. Then, to the horror of her mother and sister, Liliany gathered up the fruit and pelted the policeman with them! The little girl was roughly "arrested" and taken to the station where she was scolded, threatened and eventually released, in the hope of teaching her a lesson.
The "lesson" Liliany appeared to have learned that day was that the road to justice was through struggle. Today she is into her 18th month of incarceration in Bogota's Buen Pastor prison, in the high security Patio 6 political prisoner section.
She spent a full year here before she was even charged with "rebellion", a catch all charge used against any union activist, and "raising funds for terrorism" which she supposedly did while touring Canada in 2006 raising funds for her farm workers union FENSUAGRO (where I first met her).
In contrast, in February I watched on Colombian TV as a female paramilitary leader and eleven government soldiers caught murdering peasants, were all released simply because they had not been charged within 90 days! The hypocrisy and double standards are so blatant it's truly astounding.
Liliany is one of 7200 political prisoners held in horrendous prisons all across Colombia, many without charges. When I met her in Buen Pastor prison in September 2009, I immediately expressed my sadness at her situation. She rebuked me. "Kevin, this is just another front in the struggle."
And so it was. Liliany has organized the prisoners to communally resist the oppression of the prison. Funds donated to her turn into food, cosmetics, craft supplies and clothing for other prisoners. Fiestas are organized for International Women's Day and other political celebrations. During my visits, other prisoners would regularly interrupt us to ask Liliany questions and take her away to impromptu meetings.
It turns out she is treated as a sort of mediator among the prisoners. Like so many countries, Colombian prisoners have legal rights, but only on paper. Liliany and her fellow prisoners have been forcing the authorities to actually respect these prisoners' "paper" rights.
Word got out about this fightback to the Communist Party leader, Senator Gloria Ines. She delivered a bound copy of the Colombian criminal code to Liliany, who now uses it to help all the prisoners of Patio 6 to know their rights.
Through her earlier worldwide union fundraising tours she made personal contacts which are now bringing union leaders, journalists, parliamentarians and student activists from Australia, Canada, US and Europe to visit her. She tours them all through the prison yard, introducing these foreigners to the plights of unjustly jailed women from all across Colombia.
So Liliany is still "throwing fruit" at the oppressors, and they are not pleased. The prison authorities first retaliatory attack was to arbitrarily search her cell, seizing belongings and violently assaulting her. During my January visit they threw me out of the prison because I didn't have a newly required document, unavailable to foreigners. This obvious attempt to bar visits by foreigners failed following international protests and internal prisoner pressure.
The latest, most serious threat, is that the authorities have deemed Liliany a "problem prisoner" and want to transfer her to the notorious La Tramacua prison (see People's Voice, Oct. 16-31, 2009) in the extremely hot, dry North, beyond the reach of her family and visiting foreigners, regardless of the fact that she has yet to be convicted of anything.
It is sad and astounding to think that Harper Government wants to reward Colombia with a free trade deal, for its supposed human rights improvements. Truly Orwellian.
Liliany is waging a very effective struggle on her "front", but she and her fellow prisoners need our support. Please visit http://www.freeliliany.net to see how you can help with appeals, petitions and funds. And check out http://www.victoriacasc.org to see video interviews and news reports on her trial.
You can send Liliany and the other prisoners packages and letters and even call her on the prison payphone (011-57-1-5931082). She speaks English, but first you have to say to whoever answers "Hola! Liliany Obando por favor"; then you will have four short minutes to speak to a true fighter.
Venceremos! Thanks for your support.
(Kevin Neish is a member of the Central America Support Committee in Victoria, B.C. He has been to Colombia three times in the last six months, touring the country to hear unionists, farmers and political activists tell their stories of state oppression. He has visited Liliany Obando in prison eight times, and stayed with her family as a protective witness for several weeks.)
(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2010, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers and overseas readers - $50 per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
Mother’s Day Pancake Breakfast - Sunday, May 9, 10 am-1 pm, (last call for pancakes at 12 noon). All you can eat, $10/person ($8 under 12), 5435 Kincaid St. Proceeds to People’s Voice, auspices Burnaby Club CPC. Info: Anna 604-294-6775.
VICTORIA BC
EARTH WALK 2010 - Sat., April 24, assemble at the BC Legislature grounds at noon, parade starts at 12:30 to info fair in Centennial Square.
VANCOUVER, BC
Coalition to Build A
Better B.C., rally against Campbell government
cutbacks - Sat., April
10, 12 noon, Vancouver Art
Gallery. For info,Cultural Night Fundraiser, a night of working class culture and fun with the Young Communist League at the Centre for Socialist Education - 706 Clark Drive, Friday, April 16. Live music, food, drink, and good company.
Left Film Night - Sunday, April 25, 7 pm, at Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive. This month: Life and Debt, on the impact of capitalist globalization in Jamaica. Free admission, donations welcome, call 604-255-2041 for details.
May Day - Sat., May 1, rally and march starting 1 pm, from Clark Park (14th & Commercial), evening celebration at Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph St. For info, call VDLC, 604-254-0703.
EDMONTON, AB
Take
Back the Night - Sat., March 27, 7-10 pm, women & girls
only,
gather at Alberta Ave. Community League, 9210-118 Ave. Demand an end to
violence against women! Candle-lighting ceremony at 8 pm. May Day Cabaret - Saturday, May 1, 7 pm, Ukrainian Centre, 11018-97 St., featuring Notre Dame des Bananes choir and Maria Dunn, tickets $15 ($8 low-income), call Naomi, 465-7893.
WINNIPEG,
MB
Marxism course, classes underway; new
students still welcome. 586-7824 or cpcmb@mts.net.TORONTO, ON
People’s Voice Fund Drive launch - Sat., March 27, 7 pm, GCDO Hall, 290 Danforth (Chester subway). Cash bar, food, live music, greetings from PV Editor Kimball Cariou. Info: 416-469-2446.
Public Sector Leadership Summit - Thursday, April 15, 7 pm, 89 Chestnut St. Meeting of union leaders and stewards in greater Toronto to map out a collective response to attacks on public services, wages, benefits and pensions. Info:Toronto & York Region Labour Council, 416-441-3663.
(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2010, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers and overseas readers - $50 per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
Just two weeks after our annual Fund Drive appeals went into the mail, readers are responding with a terrific display of generous solidarity. As of March 22, we have received a total of $8,215, or 16.4% of our $50,000 target for this year.
Leading the way so far is British Columbia, with $5,120 turned in already. That’s 20.5% of our $20,000 goal for the west coast, thanks in part to very substantial donations from readers like Paul Belanger and Eric Waugh.
Several articles in this issue drive home the important role of People’s Voice. We have reports on three recent major events: the huge march of 75,000 public sector workers in Montreal, the rally in solidarity with striking Steelworkers in Sudbury, and the formation of the Coalition to Build a Better B.C. These important actions received some local coverage in regional papers, but almost zero attention in the big corporate media. They don’t consider labour organizing news - but it’s the number one reason for our paper’s existence, and the best reason to support People’s Voice.
The first fundraising event of the Drive, the annual Pasta Dinner held by the Vancouver East Club, was a success on March 21 - thanks to everyone who came for the dinner and the screening of Capitalism: A Love Story.
Donations are also starting to arrive in Ontario, where readers have contributed $2525 so far, or 11.7% of the provincial target of $21,600. Early donations of $250 from Alberta, $120 from Manitoba, and $200 from friends in other countries have helped kick the Drive into high gear. Let’s keep the ball rolling!
The next fundraising event will take place before most readers see this paper. On the evening of March 27, Toronto area readers will be at the GCDO Hall (290 Danforth Ave.) for some great music, food and refreshments, plus greetings from PV Editor Kimball Cariou. We’ll report on this event next time.
The Burnaby Club has announced details of their popular Mother’s Day Pancake Breakfast. Mark Sunday, May 9 on your calendars, starting 10 am, at 5435 Kincaid Street. It’s just $10 (or $8 for readers under 12) for all the fabulous breakfast you can eat. For details, call Anna at 604-294-6775.
As a mark of appreciation for your generosity, we are once again offering supporters complimentary gifts. For each $100 in donations, you can choose one of these black and white portraits, mounted on card, matted and ready for framing: Che Guevara, Clara Zetkin, Augusto Cesar Sandino, Bhagat Singh, Gall (Sioux), Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Louis Riel, Jeanne Corbin, or Gladys Marin. Other choices include music CDs or a copy of our 2010 Women’s Socialist Calendar.